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Week Fourteen – Monday

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this project is meeting people who share our enthusiasm for the St. Ayles skiff. Today was no exception, with five visitors from the Bowmanville area who came for a shop tour. We all agreed that getting the first boat on the water will be a great incentitive for other community groups to build.

A trip to Toronto this past weekend put us a step closer to launching our boat. The Argonaut Rowing Club of Toronto generously donated 5 Macon blade sweep oars to our project. We also received 4 Concept 2 oarlocks from Peter Code, a boatbuilder in Mississauga. Peter has taught traditional boatbuilding for many years, his latest project is a 39 foot gig equipped for both sailing and rowing with 10 oarsmen.

Traditional boatbuilding at it’s finest!

On our little boat we continued the cleanup in preparation for painting the interior. A sheerstrake edge covering was glued on to disguise the plywood planking and we installed some temporary floorboards. The next step is to work on the gunnels, which will accept both our Concept 2 oarlocks and traditional kabes.